DB-25 ILDA breakout board

[mccarrot]

you projector is a mess. I can image you made a breakout board.

After viewing the test picture on your website about the color delays i see it all the time on my projector too . My Blue and and Green are switched off way too early, leaving a red line after a white stripe.

But I still dont understand why LD2000 or the QM cannot solve this issue.

[loopee]

But I still dont understand why LD2000 or the QM cannot solve this issue.

It does to a degree, you can adjust the blanking delay but it adjusts all colours the same, not individually.

Mamba has a similar setting

In theory, if you had all the same make lasers that are tuned the same then the software control would be enough

Also this board will give you better adjustment that what is achievable in software

[allthatwhichis]

you projector is a mess. I can image you made a breakout board.

That's funny! You need to search around a little. That is not his projector... It is another's. Was another's. He actually fixed that mess with what I assume is the beginnings of the break out board.

[Anthony]

That's funny! You need to search around a little. That is not his projector... It is another's. Was another's. He actually fixed that mess with what I assume is the beginnings of the break out board.

That mess has BUFFO written all over it :-) hehehehehehe

[DZ]

hehe! Yep, this was, in part, the reason I came up with this breakout board. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but earlier this week I had a set of scanners in for repair, pretty much the same thing, a db-25 with a mess of cables to a terminal strip with another mess of cables for the devices. The breakout board is just a way to unclutter the mess with a well labelled, compact board.



<<<this section is regarding the color delay board>>>

I still dont understand why LD2000 or the QM cannot solve this issue.

Well, it could, if Pangolin added the code for it. However, Bill has stated here several times that the fix should not be in the software, but instead to the laser diode driver. For a while I thought it was silly that they didn't just incorporate the fix in thier software. In designing this board, I've really come to understand why.

If you have 2 projectors side by side (either stand alone or connected to mirror thier outputs) without the color delay board, you can set the software to run perfectly on one, but as soon as you plug in the second, you are going to have color issues since the software is "tuned" for the first one. With the color boards installed and tuned, you can connect either projector, or have them connected together with a "Y" cable, and the outputs will look the same.

[buffo]

In fairness, while it *was* my projector, it didn't always look like that.

It only looked like that right before SELEM 2008, when I had to completely re-wire the projector not once but TWICE in less than a week. I also ended up pulling both the blue and green lasers out twice each. This is in addition to all the other wiring modifications I was trying in a desperate attempt to solve the problem before I left for SELEM.

So I can perhaps be forgiven for resorting to the old "get it working and we'll clean it up later" method. (After all, the show must go on, right? And it did!)

For those of you that were in attendance at FLEM back in March of 2008, you can attest to the fact that the inside of my projector looked nothing like the picture above back then. All wires were enclosed inside the corrigated plastic hose (pieces of which are still visible in the picture above). While it may not have been quite as neat as some projectors, it was a damn sight better than the picture above!

And Anthony, to be fair, the picture doesn't have "Buffo" written all over it, but rather "Aaron" (as in "AllThatWhichIs") written all over it. Also Aaron, I already had something very similar to the break-out board in my projector before all this started. (You can see the remnants of the terminal strip with the original labels from the DB-25 connector in the picture.) Furthermore, the re-wiring of my projector (right after SELEM) did not include the color correction amp circuit *or* the break-out board that DZ made; those ideas came later.

Seriously guys - cut me some slack. I was up against a wall; I had a firm deadline and the projector wasn't working. My choices were a working but messy RGB projector, or a monochrome red projector. Which one would you have chosen for the largest Laser Enthusiast's Meeting in the US to date? (Especially if you were the primary organizer?)

Adam

PS: For those that remember the incredible battle I was fighting, know that the root of the main problem (intermittent +5 volts on the ground rail) ended up being traced to a faulty piece of insulating mica between the heat sink and one of the power mosfets on the Lasever DPSS driver board for the green laser. (Thanks for finding that, David!) And yeah, the replacement laser I got from you Aaron had the *same* problem. Gotta love that Lasever quality control...

[DZ]

In fairness, while it *was* my projector, it didn't always look like that.

This is one of the primary reasons why I came up with the breakout board. I know that right before SELEM you were having some issues. Replaced the green, the blue died and I think you even had just recently installed those 50K scanners. Being in a rush like that, things tend to get thrown together quickly. Instead of just soldering straight to the DB-25, in a rush, people will start throwing in the terminal strips, suddenly you have double the wire floating around. I'm certainly guilty of that, many times over! Anyway, I didn't mean to draw anything negative here, Adam, I do remember what your projector looked like before SELEM 2008 (before you had to put together some quick fixes). For being the first projector you've ever built, it was an outstanding job. Certainly better than my first projector, which was made of wood!

[mccarrot]

Well, it could, if Pangolin added the code for it. However, Bill has stated here several times that the fix should not be in the software, but instead to the laser diode driver. For a while I thought it was silly that they didn't just incorporate the fix in thier software. In designing this board, I've really come to understand why.

If you have 2 projectors side by side (either stand alone or connected to mirror thier outputs) without the color delay board, you can set the software to run perfectly on one, but as soon as you plug in the second, you are going to have color issues since the software is "tuned" for the first one. With the color boards installed and tuned, you can connect either projector, or have them connected together with a "Y" cable, and the outputs will look the same.

I don't really agree, Pangolin got a 1 laser 1 QM filosophy. So every laser should have 1 QM(net) so looking at their fosolophy they should put in it in the software. But on the other hand, I also use 2 RGB lasers on 1 QM so for me the colorboard is the best solution.

[allthatwhichis]

And Anthony, to be fair, the picture doesn't have "Buffo" written all over it, but rather "Aaron" (as in "AllThatWhichIs") written all over it.

Nothing like a swift kick in the nuts from a friend...

[buffo]

Nothing like a swift kick in the nuts from a friend...

True, but at least I didn't start it dude...

Think about how I felt. That picture represents quite possibly the *worst* wiring I've ever done in my life. At least you admitted that you have trouble with a soldering iron. I don't, which is why the picture is all the more cringe-worthy.

To quote Capt. Kirk in Star Trek IV, "You're not exactly catching us at our best."

Adam